Center for Global Health Initiatives

Get Involved in Global Health

Join the CGHI Advisory Board

Interested in becoming more engaged in global health? AAFP members, including students and residents, are eligible to serve on the CGHI Advisory Board. For more information about available positions or how to become more engaged in global health, please contact Alex Ivanov.

Questions?

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Center for Global Health Initiatives (CGHI) was created in April 2014 as a response to AAFP members’ high and continuously growing interest in global health. The creation of CGHI aims to:

Support the professional needs of AAFP members to be globally engaged.

Promote family medicine and population-based, patient-centered, primary health care on a global scale.

CGHI serves as the first point of contact for AAFP members in their inquiries about global health. Additionally, CGHI is engaged in:

Ongoing studies of the needs and interests of AAFP members related to global health to help them become productively involved in global family medicine development;

Exploring international family medicine opportunities to foster collaboration between AAFP members, and US-based as well as international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

CGHI History and Milestones

2000

The AAFP Center for International Health Initiatives (CIHI) is established as an international family medicine consulting corps.

In the following few years, CIHI provides consultations for the development of family medicine residency programs in the Bahamas, Macao, and India.

2003

A Family Medicine Global Health Workshop is piloted to help AAFP members in preparation for their engagement in global health. The CIHI Advisory Board assumes the role of the core faculty and is instrumental in the planning and development of the workshop program.

Since the inaugural workshop, the conference has increasingly grown, both in attendance, and in educational and networking value.

2003-2009

Supported by the CIHI Advisory Board, the AAFP participates in a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project in Albania as a subcontractor. Approximately 20 consultations are conducted, resulting in the development of the framework for family medicine in Albania, and empowerment of local stakeholders including Albania’s Ministry of Health, medical education institutions, and legislature and state insurance system.

CIHI becomes more focused on providing AAFP members with global health education and training.

The CIHI Advisory Board recognizes the need for primary care and family medicine consultants who can provide technical assistance that is internationally based on the universal principles of family medicine, and tailored and appropriately adapted to specific needs of a recipient country.

2013 – 2014

The former AAFP International Activities Office and CIHI are integrated into the AAFP organizational structure now known as the Center for Global Health Initiatives (CGHI). The main role of CGHI is to implement the AAFP global health strategy, which focuses on supporting AAFP members in their global health experiences.

Attend the AAFP Family Medicine Global Health Workshop

Gather with like-minded peers to learn, share, and advance in global health.